View
215
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
1/9
T. Michael W. Halcomb
02.15.11 | NT520: Intro to New Testament Theology | Asbury Theological Seminary
Lecture on The Historical Jesus & Review of the Willimons Why Jesus?
Dom Crossan, the infamous Catholic priest and controversial Jesus Seminarmember (if you would like to learn more about the Jesus Seminar, see Dr.
Witheringtons, The Jesus Quest, especially the first three chapters)1, states in the
prologue of his bookThe Historical Jesus: Even under the discipline of attempting to
envision Jesus against his own most proper Jewish background, it seems we can have as
many pictures as there are exegetes[Their] stunning diversity is an academicembarrassment. It is impossible to avoid the suspicion that historical Jesus research is a
very safe place to do theology and call it history, to do autobiography and call it
biography.2
This claim, in many ways, is quite accurate for, as nearly as long as therehas been a Jesus, there have been different portraits of Jesus painted. Even our four
Gospels writers sought to portray him in a variety of different ways.
I am reminded of the poster that contains awide variety of portrayals of Jesus within
different cultures throughout the world. One
of the things that this poster says to me is
that on some level or another, for humans tobe able to encounter Jesus in personal and/or
meaningful ways, we have to not only
meet but also, make him in our ownimage. To put it differently: Jesus is shaped
by the shapers and since our world is
constantly changing and since cultures are
constantly being reshaped, depending onwhere you are and when in time you are
there, Jesus is always getting reshaped. In
short ones theology about Jesus is to a great degree, predetermined by thepresuppositions and perspectives they already bring to the table.3
This is not too far from the first two lines in the introduction of Willimons book,
where he answers the question posed in the title Why Jesus? saying, Because he is themost fascinating person in the world. Into my life he came, unsought and uninvited, took
over, and refused to go (Intro, 7).4
Willimons book, a popular addition to the so-
called Quests for the Historical Jesus, unapologetically contends that Jesus, a Jew fromNazareth, is also God (Intro, 7) raised from the dead (Intro, 10) and that the four
1
Ben Witherington, III, The Jesus Quest: The Third Search for the Jew of Nazareth (Downers
Grove, Ill: IVP, 1997).2
John D. Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant(Nashville:
Harper Collins, 1992), xxviii.3
See Dale C. Allison, The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 2009), 16.4
Note that I am using APA formatting to cite portions of the Why Jesus? Kindle edition.
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
2/9
Gospel accountsall accurateare four testimonies from ancient persons who, much
like Williimon himself, had their lives radically transformed by Jesus (Intro, 9).The truth of the matter is: Any reconstruction of the historical Jesus relies, to a
great degree, on how limited or not our access to sources about Jesus are. In Willimons
treatment, however, he says that he will not follow the reconstructionist patterns and try
to prove Jesus historically (Intro, 10-11) because, after all, Most of what we hanker toknow about Jesus is beyond historians reach for world history was never an adequate
vehicle for Jesus (Intro, 11). This approach is related to the Quests that I mentionedmoments ago in that it is dubbed the Third Quest. And so, we might say, To Quest or
Not to Quest? That is the Quest-ion!5 So, maybe the heart of the real question that
Willimon is getting at is not Why Jesus? but rather, Who is Jesus?And the most fruitful way to begin to answer that question starts with engaging
the texts of the New Testament in their ancient contexts, as Willimon himself asserts
saying that we meet Jesus through his first followers or we meet him not at all (Intro,
14). He qualifies this by contending that, Knowledge of the historical and culturalcontext of Jesus protects us from the sin of making Jesus anything we wantFew
followers of Jesus trudge after him on the basis of historical details. Its who Jesus is andyet shall be that is most compelling (Intro, 15). So, Willimon shifts the ground alreadyin the introduction and his book morphs into an apologetic focused not on the question of
Why Jesus? but rather Who is Jesus as portrayed in the New Testament and why
should we trust those portrayals?In chapter one, which Willimon titles Vagabond, he jumps headfirst into some
of the Gospel stories and attempts to make the case that Jesus, one who was always on
the move, expected the same of his so-called disciplesespecially after he returned to
them post-resurrection. Jesus challenged his disciples with movement or what we mightrefer to today as mission or evangelism, both of which can be scary things in their
own rights. Here, while Willimon certainly over-caricatures and even anachronistically
psychologizes the disciples of Jesus, defining them as a ragtag group of Galilean loserswho failed him (1, 16), he also gets to the nub of the matter, essentially arguing that
one proof for Jesus existence is found none other than in the existence and testimonies of
his followers. See, for Willimon, Jesus as the true God is to be contrasted with any otheridol-god: Whereas the void-of-movement-idol demands nothing of its followers, the on-
the-move-Jesus, absolutely does (1, 23). This contrast, however, is a bit deceptive as
idols in antiquity were not viewed so lowly and even as 2 Kgs 17:41 tells us, Israel
served, that is, moved or did things, for idols whom they believed expected things fromthem.
5
Michael Bird, Shouldnt Evangelicals Participate in the Third Quest for the Historical Jesus?
Themelios 29.2 (Spring, 2004): 9.
What would make Christianity unique in an absolute sense, with no possible historical
rival, would be for Jesus to be what is claimed for himthe one and only Son of God,
God who has come in the flesh; and to have done what is affirmed for himto havebrought a salvation and relationship with God that no one else than the Son of God
could have brought. There we pass from history to faith. -Everett Ferguson,
Backgrounds of Early Christianity (3rd ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 620.
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
3/9
Building even more on this contrast, Willimon contends that Jesus is not a deity
that any of us could have ever concocted in our imaginations. The plea here is one forthe uniqueness or unusualness of Jesus, or, in terms of logic: The exception to the rule.
Willimon, however, cannot prove that a person like Jesus could never be created in the
imagination of persons; indeed, more and less creative characters have been fashioned
throughout history. Nor is it apt to appeal to such unverifiable claims so as to attempt tostake the validity of Christianity on its uniqueness. To be sure, Christianity borrowed
many features from its Jewish and Graeco-Roman stories and surroundings.6
Even Jesushimself uses familiar quotes from rabbis and tells familiar riddles or stories. To appeal to
Jesus as a vagabond, as opposed to an expected king or some royal figure, in order to
validate him, simply fails.Willimon, in the company of many preachers Ive heard, says so
straightforwardly as if it were fact, that Jesus (as God), showed up as a homeless man,
unmarried and unemployed (1, 27). Yet, Jesus may have in fact owned a home (the
Greek in Mk can be read this way) and certainly, we know that he was a carpenter orstoneworker (and all probability suggests that he made money from this job) as well as a
rabbi of sorts. In fact, it is not until after he begins his ascent to Jerusalem that Jesusactually leaves behind his trade and home and makes the statement about having nowhereto lay his head (Lk 9:58) and of course, he has left all that behind because soon, he will
die. Here, Willimons tenet of maintaining a degree of modesty and tentativeness in
what we claim to know about Jesus (1, 36), I think, actually seems to work againsthim!
Following the concept of the
first chapter, Willimon offers
eleven subsequent chapters orbetter yet, images, of Jesus.
And before I talk a little bit
about each of those, I thinkthis would be a good point to
say a few words about the
Quests for the HistoricalJesus, just so you can see
precisely what it is that
Willimon is doing, beyond
say, the average laypersonlevel. If the First Quest
began just before the 1900s
and was based on sourcecomparisons and focused on
how a variety of scholarly
groups or schoolsunderstood Jesus (e.g. in
terms of rationalism
6
For more on this, see Frank M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran (London: 1958), esp. 184;
Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds of Early Christianity (3rd
ed.; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), esp. 619-20.
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
4/9
mythicism, romanticism, etc.), then when Albert Schweitzer later declared a moratorium
on the First Quest (which likely was never really the case!) and the Second Quest started(early to mid 1900s), its focus was on the relationship of the Gospels to literary modes,
literature and sources outside of the New Testament works (what we refer to as non-
canonical or extra-biblical, with extra meaning outside of).7
Not satisfied with the approach or results, a Third Quest ensued and in a nutshell,we can list at least three fundamental elements of this Quest and some of the gains they
have to offer:8
1. Focus/emphasis on the Jewishness of both Jesus and Early Christianity (Considers
various strands of Palestinian Judaism; Provides a greater sense of ecumenism asopposed to a Continental Lutheranism)
2. Jesus focus/emphasis on the Reign/Kingdom of God, often with Jewish emphasis
on its fulfillment at the parousia (the consummation of Gods reign here on
earth)3. A higher degree of optimism concerning the historical accuracy and reliability
about Jesus and the canonical Gospels (reexamination of texts and sources; Newinsights from archaeology, philology and sociology in the illumination of Jesusand his context; clarification of historicity and more knowledge of miracle
traditions)
Taking this data together, the
belief is that, what we now
have, is a more balanced way
of getting at who Jesus is.So, at this point, if you think
that when I say Historical
Jesus Im saying that Jesuswas a historian or an avid
reader of history books, I
most certainly am not; youvemisunderstood! Well,
returning now to Willimon,
whose main question again is
not really Why Jesus? butrather Who is Jesus? it is
no surprise to find him
offering up a veritablesmorgasbord of Jesuses that
he believes are encountered
in the Gospels. After the
7
A concise introduction to these matters can be found in Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the
New Testament: An Introduction to the Evidence (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), esp. 3-5.8
Bird, Shouldnt (8-9) who draws also on John P. Meier, The Present State of the Third
Quest for the Historical Jesus: Loss and Gain, in Bib 80 (1999): 459-87.
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
5/9
Vagabond Jesus, in chapter two, we meet Jesus the Peacemaker. While Id love to focus
on the non-violent, pacifistic, peace-making Jesus at this point, given the main topic athand, the Historical Jesus, Ill pass on that and simply point out that here, we find
Willimon using all three of the things we just noted: 1) Emphasis on Jesus Jewishness;
2) Focus on Jesus view of Gods reign/kingdom; 3) An engaging with and reexamination
of various texts and sources, to illustrate the historical accuracy and reliability of Jesus aspainted in the canonicals. Willimon will continue to do this throughout the remainder of
his book, sometimes more overtly, sometimes less.In chapter three of Willimons work, one of the places where the Historical Jesus
data is a bit harder to recognize, we find some thoughts about Jesus the Riddler or
Parabler. For the most part, this chapter offers some creative and modern retellings ofJesus close-to-jokes stories. Zooming-in for a close look, we see Willimon brilliantly at
work elucidating the Jewishness of Jesus and his insistence on Gods Kingdom or reign.
These, of course, are Historical Jesus matters. Yet, what I think Willimon really
accomplishes in this chapter is to show that when it comes right down to it, to theHistorical Jesus, this storyteller and his stories that are the centerpieces of the Gospels,
are not at all out-of-keeping with what we should expect to hear or seeeven if we mightnot initially have the eyes to see or the ears to hear! Stated more simply: The issue has todo, in large part, with plausibilityit is wholly plausible that this Jesus (and his story
catalogue) makes sense within the ancient Mediterranean (Jewish/Graeco-Roman) world
of which he was a part.And part of that world he most certainly was, argues Willimon in the fourth
chapter, which focuses on Jesus the partier. In my estimation, the Historical Jesus is
pushed front-and-center here, as he is presented as a public figure. As Willimon so
creatively states, He [Jesus] seemed intent on making the private go public (4, 9) forhe was a supremely social, communal person (4, 10). On the one hand, this caused
him problems with the religious officials of his day but on the other hand, it all peers into
Jesus view of the consummation of Gods reign, a daywhen all of Gods people will begin to relive
the party with Jesus for the rest of time. For
now, however, Willimon contends, thechurch is the party before the party (4,
34).
Without a doubt, as we near the
halfway point, we can see that Willimon iskeen on the principles of the Third Quest as
he continues to reiterate them.9
At this
point, we see his views align more clearlywith folks like Markus Bockmuehl, who has
argued that, It is historically legitimate to
see Jesus of Nazareth in organic, causal,continuity with the faith of the early
9
At one point it is unclear as to whether or not Willimon lapses into universalism when he says,
This is what reality will benot just on Saturday night but for all eternity, not just for a fortunate few but
for everybodyonce God gets Gods way and the promised kingdom comes (5, 33).
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
6/9
church10
and Michael Bird who says, Any
study of Jesus that does not take intoaccount the follow-on effect that he had with
his followers is historically deficient.11
Indeed, we must really question the whole
notion that in studying the Historical Jesus,we are trying to distinguish between the
Jesus of history and the Christ of faith! Or,to put it more in lay terms: We must realize
that in our studies of the Historical Jesus, we
are not attempting to decide between thehuman Jesus before the cross and the
spiritual or theological one written about
post-resurrection!
I should also stop and point out here something that I hope youve alreadynoticed, namely, that while Willimon has the gift of writing on a very catchy, positive
level, just beneath the surface of his work, he is actually dialoguing with hundreds ofyears of scholarship. There is something to be said for the Christian thinker who knowshis or her stuff well enough, who really does his or her homework, and is able to keep a
foot in both the academy and the church or better yet, bridge the two! As a PhD student
who spends lots of time, the majority of my time in fact in the scholarly realm, sometimesit can be difficult to step out of that and engage people where they are.
Yet, it is not just one-sided is it? Ive found too, that others have a hard time
stepping outside of their own worlds and into mine, engaging me on my level! I want to
encourage all of you, as one who has done four years of Bible College, 4 years ofMasters work and now almost 2 years of PhD work (thats 10 years of Christian higher
education; by the time I finish, Ill have been in higher education more than k-12!), to
strive to find ways to bridge what youre learning through your studies with yourecclesiastical lives! I can promise you that if you do this, you will get much more
mileage out of your education than if you didnt! Also, while I know that many of you
are Mdiv students, I really want to encourage you to take as many Bible and exegesiscourses (IBS, etc.) that you can. I can almost guarantee you that once you leave here and
get into your pastorate or other profession, you will lean more heavily on the Bible than
anything else and if youre going to engage it, know how to engage it correctly!
Getting back to Why Jesus?, I want to take chapters five and six together here, thefirst of which considers Jesus as Preacher and the second, which understands him as a
Magician. In five, Willimon spends much time linking Jesus the Preacher not only with
the God of Israel, but Israels most vocal patriarchs, such as Moses, the prophets and thepsalmist(s). Once again, we see Jesus being placed squarely in his Jewish milieu. Here,
Jesus is a man of many words, powerful words, and the thirst-quenching word-giver that
Israel had been waiting for after a long period of prophetic silence. Jesus brought forthwords in the synagogues, he was Spirit-filled, steeped in scripture (5, 15) and believed
that the ancient writings provided a clue for understanding what is going on in the
present (5, 21).
10
Markus Bockmuehl, This Jesus: Martyr, Messiah, Lord(Edinburgh: T. & T Clark, 1994), 8.11
Bird, Shouldnt (10).
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
7/9
While Willimon is certainly on to something here, I do have to wonder if there is
a little bit of a sleight of hand, when he makes the move from Old to New Testamentseem soseamless? In short, it is not as clearly articulated as one would like it to be
regarding precisely how Jesus is related to inspiration, how that affects him as a
historical being, and how that extends to those who preach today. What I can glean from
this, however, is the overt emphasis on the Jewishness of Jesus, for he is placed squarelywithin Israels history and story.
When it comes to Jesus and magic, Jesus is a social force to be reckoned with ashe is a threat to the Jewish priesthood, the governmentally sanctioned healthcare
professional(s) of his day (6, 9), and the keepers of the status quo (6, 15). This
was all a sign, yet one more way for this JewishMagician to make clear his point about the in-
breaking of a new reign or kingdom of God (6,
33). Beyond all of this, Willimon squarely
challenges the readings of First Questers whosimply tried to re-read and re-interpret the so-called
miracles, from rationalistic points of view. ForWillimon, terms like miracles, supernatural,etc. are all misleading because, for all we know,
these signs that Jesus performed are the way the
worldin Christactually and naturally functions(esp. 6, 36, 42). (Indeed, maybe it is normal after
all for Jesus to show up in toast and grilled-cheese! Not really!) The Third Quest
mindset shows up here, too, when Willimon unabashedly connects the Easter Jesus with
all that came before Easter saying, we are to work backward from the great big,unexpected miracle that happened on Easter toward everything else that Jesus said and
did (6, 47).
This claim is fleshed out in chapter seven, where Willimon begins by talkingabout baptism (7, 1)something he certainly overstates the case on (any decent Jewish
person would have been familiar with such immersions and ritual baths and it would not
have been as shocking to them as it is to modern folks!). Yet, in this chapter about Jesusthe Homewrecker, Willimon puts us in a position to look backwards from the empty
tomb, to the life of Jesus, and to make sense of what he was doing. Prior to the
resurrection, there was no church per se, just some followers and a teacher. Yet, once
we put on our resurrection goggles and re-encounter the story, no longer do we see it thatway, we see the beginnings of a new family, the church!
In the next two chapters,
eight and nine, we encounter Jesusthe Savior and Jesus the Sovereign.
In eight, Willimon, who once again
borders on universalism (esp. 8, 37), points back to Jesus emphasis
on Gods reign and its magnetic
draw for all people. Problematically,he narrowly defines salvation
(whenever Jesus intrudes on your
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
8/9
space; 8, 23) and he is unclear on precisely how it is that individuals attain salvation
(again, it seems that he borders on universalism here). Unfortunately, in many ways, thisis the weakest chapter of the entire book, when in all reality, it should be one of the most
potent and forceful! Following this, in Willimons thoughts on Jesus the Sovereign,
Willimon returns to situating Jesus firmly within his Jewish context and elaborating on
the concept of Gods reign / kingdom (9, 1ff). In terms of Historical Jesus matters, thebiggest takeaway from this chapter is the reminder that while Jesus was surely Jewish, he
also operated within a context where the Roman Empire ruled, a rule he was overturningand as such, bringing the climax of Israels history to its fulfillment (9, 27, 30).
The last three images in Willimons book, Lover, Delegator and Body, are not at
all out of keeping with the chapters that preceded them or the drive of the Third Quest.Jesus inherent Jewishness, Jesus reiteration of Gods new reign, the connection of
Jesus resurrection to all that preceded it in his life, and the push against earlier Quests to
box Jesus in by way of religio-scholastic ideologies, are all encountered. For Willimon,
Jesus the Lover is also one who is a risk-taker; one who loves people enough to suffer forthemnot fight for them in a military or lead a rebellion to protect their bodiesso that
they might enter the realm of Gods reign. In his chapter dealing with Jesus theDelegator, Willimon moves away from the Gospels to focus on the Apostle Paulsexperiences, namely, the role delegated to him by God to carry the Gospel to the
Gentiles.
Here, I take issue with Willimon defining Pauls Damascus Road encounter as aconversion, which Willimon does acknowledge but does not necessarily shy away from
(he prefers the term call but still uses conversion). Paul, in fact, never stopped
paying allegiance to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but rather had a paradigm
shift in understanding this God through the filter of Jesus; this indeed, was his call! Justas well, I would challenge the contention that Paul received a new name after this
Damascus Road experience (e.g. Saul to Paul; we know that the Apostles name was
likely Saulus Paulus of Tarsus, where he used one name when beneficial forRoman/Gentile purposes and the other when beneficial for Jewish purposes) (11, 11).
What I do agree with,
however, is the main argument of thechapter, namely, that Paul, like
everyone else invited by Jesus to
follow him, has been delegated a
role: to advance Gods reign onearth. This, of course, does not mean
we need to be the types of Bible-
thumping, anti-intellectual, arrogantChristians we all know (and
probably that many of us have been
or are). It doesnt amount to puttingJesus bumper stickers all over your
car like I did in high school. It
doesnt mean putting on your bestChristian t-shirts or Jesus costumes
8/7/2019 review of willimons - why jesus
9/9
all the time. It means putting into practice the ethics of Jesus, which may even be a
rebuke to the cultures way of living, and maintaining that identity in the face of all thatchallenges, belittles or questions it.
Finally, as Willimon comes to a close with the twelfth image / chapter, he
considers Jesus as Body. In a way, this chapter reminds me of the Gospels, each of
which ends with the resurrection as a new lens through which to go back and reread thestory. Most, I believe, once they get to this chapter, will return to the entire book again
sometime later to take up and read. Indeed, here, Willimon gets to the heart of theHistorical Jesus at its very core: The resurrected body of Jesus. I cited Everett Ferguson
above and really, all of what he says rings true here. What Willimon has done in the
preceding eleven chapterseven though the average reader not privy to all of the issuessurrounding the Quests for Jesusis set the stage for this final point. And what is the
point: The risen Jesus cannot and should not be distinguished from the Christ to faith.
Passing from the Jesus of history to the Christ of faith is not to differentiate
between the two; they are one and the same; Jesus physical body is intertwined with hisspiritual body of believers! Instead of reviewing this brilliant chapter with a fine-
toothed-comb here, Ill simply close with one quote, a kind of echo from chapter one, adenouement of sorts: Now Jesus is no longer confined even to his remarkably itinerateresurrected bodyIf you meet Jesus, then you must be introduced to him through the
corporate lens of his first followers (Paul and the gospels). Jesus is so embedded in his
body, from the very first, that theres no way to extricate some real Jesus or originalJesus from the Jesus as presented by those who first followed him (12, 6-7).
Questions for Group Discussion:12
1. How might understanding issues surrounding studies of the Historical Jesus be
fruitful in your respective vocations and/or ministries?
2. How might understanding the four different perspectives of the four Gospelswriters assist us in understanding the Historical Jesus (as the Third Quest asserts)
rather than finally making him look like the Jesus who mirrors each of our own
interests (as the First Quest did)?3. What, if anything, allows us to hold the Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith
together, as opposed to dichotomizing them?
4. Do you think that Willimons approach (e.g. looking at 12 different images of
Jesus he believes are encountered in the Gospels and Paul) is either helpful orbeneficial? Is this an approach you yourselves would take?
5. What do you find convincing about the Third Quest as opposed to the first two?
Is there anything that youd add to what has been suggested here?6. Thinking about chapter 11 and the concept of delegation, especially in light of Dr.
Witheringtons comments in your first class session about being the local Bible
experts in our faith communities, how might knowing more about the ways thatthe Historical Jesus relates to the Bible, assist you in responding to outlandish
ideas that people today have about either?
7. What is the value of your testimony when engaging others about the HistoricalJesus? Has it been crafted like the Gospel writers crafted theirs?
12
You can access a copy of this lecture on my website www.MichaelHalcomb.com
Recommended